Think Strategically About Your Career by Ronald G. Shapiro, PhD
by Richard Austin
When was the last time you thought about what you really want to accomplish most in your lifetime? Did you also think about whether you are spending your time and making career decisions appropriate to supporting your major goals?
goals
Did you record your thinking in writing? If you cannot remember the answer to the first two questions, and/ or the answer to the third question is “no,” I would ask you to spend some time during the next few weeks really thinking about your major life goals. Will achieving these goals make you happy? Will they help you to be remembered the way you want to be remembered? Document your thoughts. If you are an artist, draw, paint, or write some music which illustrates your accomplishments to you. Set the document aside for a few days, and then reexamine it. Edit it. Set it aside for a few more days. Reexamine it. Edit it. Repeat this process until you have no changes for several iterations. Next, I would ask you to think about your current career and career decisions which you have made recently. Are they consistent with the documentation which you prepared above? If they are, do you have great plans which can help you to continue to achieve your objectives? If so, congratulations! If not, take some time to think about what changes you may need to make to achieve your objectives. Do you need to work more? Work less? Develop new skills? Change your career entirely? You may wish to speak with some friends or colleagues in other professions to see if what they are doing can help you to achieve your goals. You may wish to speak with a career counselor, perhaps one at a college or university. If you are employed in a large company, you may wish to speak with employees in other departments to understand what they do. Perhaps you would like to learn some new skills and prepare to do an internal transfer to their area. Document your plan. Review it. Revise it until you have a strategy which you like and will actually implement. Once you determine what you would really like to be doing, remember that having a structured support network will make it easier to make changes. Think about setting up your own personal “board of directors” with five or six people on it who you can call on for advice and support. While you may (or may not) want to use the term board of directors in speaking with these individuals, do ask them if you can meet with them periodically to discuss your plans. Speaking with your board members will help you solidify your plan and provide motivation and accountability. Periodically—but not too frequently, and not after a bad day—ask yourself if your goals have remained consistent, if you are happy, and if you are doing what you most want to be remembered for doing. Next month we’ll discuss the day-to-day details to design a plan to achieve your goals. I would like to thank Dr. Margarita Posada Cossuto for helpful comments. Layout Design by Lillian Ferranti
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